The Morning Rant: Minimalist Edition

I am a dedicated believer in the concept of American Exceptionalism, and I will defend the idea that Americans are the finest people on the planet.

But nowhere in our culture is there as much of a disparity between those ideas, and their practice, than our government; specifically our representatives, though generally pretty much everyone.

Ace wrote about Matt Gaetz and the House ethics report that was released yesterday, saying:

Now do all 434 other members. As long as we're getting judgy.

I am under no illusions about what power does.

Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority; still more when you superadd the tendency of the certainty of corruption by authority.

The current crop of reprobates (with none of the humor of that word) gleefully break their own rules, lots of laws, and then create carve-outs in those laws so that they can behave differently than the people they claim to represent. For instance, Congress may buy and sell stocks based on what is called "Material Non-Public Information" (MNPI). You can't. Nobody except Congress can. You will go to jail if you do it! The federal government's financial enforcement arm (the SEC) sends people to jail every year for that sort of stuff, and they fine a lot more. That's how a conniving mid-wit like Nancy Pelosi can be fabulously wealthy (net worth of more than $240,000,000) on a salary of $200k/year.

There is a secret slush fund used by Congress to pay off the people whom they sexually harass and sexually assault. Wouldn't you like to know where that money has gone, and for whom? My guess is that there are also plenty of auto accident injuries that were hushed up, and probably a bunch of DUIs in that mix.

And even when our representatives aren't committing felonies, they are behaving like entitled asses. They park where they want. They behave abominably at public restaurants. They sneer at their constituents. They are contemptuous of the people who pay for their obscene junkets to fascinating places. Anyone want to bet against me when I suggest that there are probably a dozen members of Congress in London or Paris or Prague on "official business," conveniently scheduled to correspond with Christmas shopping?

Let's start holding our representatives to some minimum standard of conduct. Let us demand that they behave as if they are in our business, working for us. Because that is exactly what they are doing.

I am being optimistic in the extreme when I hope for a shift away from an imperial government. It won't happen absent a fundamental upheaval in our society. But we can demand some propriety from these people. Matt Gaetz probably didn't have sex with a 17-year old girl, but does anyone doubt that he boasted of his conquests, and behaved like a high school boy?

Term limits are problematic in a free society, but I see no other way to limit -- even slightly -- the sense of entitlement and the disconnect between our representatives and us. "Throw The Bums Out" should be reflexive! Make them prove that they deserve our trust by not behaving like they are royalty!

[Crossposted at CutJibNewsletter]

posted by CBD at 10:55 AM

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